An agricultural row crop planter is a machine built for precisely distributing seed into the ground. The row crop planter generally includes a horizontal toolbar fixed to a hitch assembly for towing behind a tractor or other implement. Row units are mounted to the toolbar. In different configurations, seed may be stored at individual hoppers on each row unit, or it may be maintained in a central hopper and delivered to the row units on an as needed basis. The row units include ground-working tools for opening and closing a seed furrow, and a seed metering system for distributing seed to the seed furrow.
In its most basic form, the seed meter includes a housing, a seed disk, and a seed chute. The housing is constructed such that it creates a reservoir to hold a seed pool. The seed disk resides within the housing and rotates about a generally horizontal central axis. As the seed disk rotates, it passes through the seed pool where it picks up individual seeds. The seeds are subsequently dispensed into the seed chute where they drop into the seed furrow.
There have been many ways in which the seed planting process has been adapted in order to increase the amount of yield per acre. For example, instead of treating an entire farm as the same throughout and planting a single type of seed or seed hybrid, there has been a push for planting multiple types of seed to account for differences in soil characteristics, such as moisture content and nutrient level, as well as climate variances. The seed hybrid is selected to provide for the highest yield according to the different conditions throughout the farms. In addition, the hybrids may be configured to treat pest resistance to certain traits found in some, but not all, hybrids.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for an agricultural planter that allows for a user to plant different seed hybrids or varieties in locations of a field based upon known field characteristics in an on-the-go manner. There is also a need in the art for a planter to allow for a larger number of seed varieties to be planted based upon the field characteristics and with a more accurate location than has been heretofore accomplished.